Alpha’s Rue: His Shunned Luna (Athena Enchanted) novel Chapter 369

“I’m leaving,” I choke out.

“No, please don’t go.” He chokes out, reaching for me, but this time I don’t pull away fast enough. “I can’t live without you.” He says, a lone tear rolling down his cheek.

“Can’t live without me?” I echo, my tone mocking because this is what he turned my life into, a fucking joke. “You have a wife, you have a mate who you’re bonded to, and you can’t live with me? Who am I? I’m just a stupid, desperate, horny slut who—”

“Don’t talk about yourself that way.”

“Why? Because I’m pretty and smart?” I snicker. “If you call me pretty, I’m going to make sure you never father any kids.”

He doesn’t flinch at my words, he simply stares, the defeat in his eyes making my heart sink. “You’re my mate.”

Again, my brain stops.

I seem to lose all intelligence when I’m next to him, and that’s exactly how I got here. “Excuse me?” I almost whisper, “What did you say?”

His eyes search mine. I hope I misheard him. I hope to hear him clearly this time, but he doesn’t change his words. “You’re my mate.”

“You’re an asshole,” I swallow, the words feeling like salt in my wounds. “I really thought you were one of the good ones, and here you go breaking my heart and failing my judgment.”

“It’s true,” his head slightly tilts. “You’re my mate, Noah.”

“Your mate,” I point towards the open door. “She is celebrating somewhere because you fucked a stupid runt, and got her pregnant so she can experience motherhood!”

“I’m telling the truth, Noah.” He insists. “Don’t you feel it?”

No.

I feel way too many things, way too much that will never bear fruit, and he dares mock me by telling me I’m the one thing that I will never be. “Everything I feel for you is a lie, it’s all crafted by you, and your mate, and I will never forgive you for doing this to me.” I gritt through my teeth. “I should have stayed away, my Aeliana warned me, but I just couldn't...”

“Because we’re meant to be together.” He counters, a little too quickly for my liking.

“Stop pretending,” I groan. “The jig is up, I know why you did everything.”

“I didn’t do anything with motive, everything between us was natural, Noah.” He says, his words so smooth I almost believe them, just as I did countless times. “I tried to avoid it, I tried to stay away from you, but I couldn’t. The more time I spent with you, the more I craved our bond.”

“What bond?” I laugh.

“Our mate bond.”

“Again with that?” I huff, “I’m not stupid, Rowan. You have a mate, if you think this will make me keep—”

“I swear on our child, it’s true,” he blurts out, his gaze unfocused, panicked. “I swear on what I hold most sacred, both you and Danielle.”

Oh goddess.

“You’re my mate, Noah,” he confidently repeats, sounding like a broken record, but it is I who breaks, it is I who gets out of here with nothing. “You’re my fated mate.”

I roll my eyes, tired now.

He really must think I’m an idiot, I mean, surely I must have been for falling into bed with him, I must have seemed even more desperate when I let his wife watch. Damn my kinks.

“You were not desperate,” he answers, “That was the bond.”

“No, that’s impossible.” I pull away, the bond humming low under my skin. “This is just...it’s infatuation.”

“I thought the same too, but then I felt it from the moment we met, your presence unsettled me in the best way possible, and as time went on, I confirmed it.” He tells me. “I confirmed it within a month, and I told Danielle.”

Danielle.

My eyes widen. “She knows?”

He nods, “Yeah. I told her I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know if you wanted to know.” His voice drops, the sorrow and confidence in it replaced with audible guilt. “Danielle told me to leave it alone, and I was going to. I was going to reject you.”

“What?” I clutch my chest. My world has been spinning since I saw those clear lines on the second test, and it hasn’t stopped since. Every time I catch a break or feel like I’m finally caught up with everything happening, then my world takes another spin, another turn, another truth I can’t stomach. And this one? It fucking hurts, it cuts deep.

“You seemed happy with your life, and Dani and I, we were...” he pauses. “We—I was going to end it before it ever started, but the bond was too strong. I was having sleepless nights not knowing you were safe, my wolf and I, we easily grow protective and possessive of you. That’s why I was always lurking in the shadows when you were out at night.”

Those words feel like a memory. He was lurking around, and I always thought it was a coincidence, I never caught on. Never caught on to the jealousy he masked as irritation every time he scolded me for being with someone I just met. “I’m your mate,” I blink in shock.

“Yes,” he nods.

“You were going to reject me,” I choke out.

He shamelessly nods. “Yes, but that was before I—”

Before I became their breeder.

Because I didn’t fit into his plans, I didn’t fit into his perfect life. Whatever game the goddess played with my life is cruel. I’ve suffered enough feeling like I didn’t belong back home because she used me to punish my parents for their illicit bond, and now she throws me to a mated man? She throws me to someone who could never love me because he has loved another long before I came along.